FACET: Future ATM Concepts Evaluation Tool

Abstract

FACET (Future Air Traffic Management Concepts Evaluation Tool) is a simulation and analysis tool developed at the NASA Ames Research Center. This paper introduces the design, architecture, functionalities and applications of FACET. The purpose of FACET is to provide a simulation environment for exploration, development and evaluation of advanced Air Traffic Management concepts. FACET models system-wide airspace operations over the contiguous United States. The architecture of FACET strikes an appropriate balance between flexibility and fidelity, enabling it to model the trajectories of over 5,000 aircraft on a single desktop computer running on any of a wide variety of operating systems. FACET has proto-types of several advanced Air Traffic Management concepts: airborne self-separation; a decision support tool for direct routing; advanced traffic flow management techniques; and the integration of space launch vehicle operations into the U.S. National Airspace System.